Computational Thinking: European Explorers

Grade: Grade 5
Overall Goal: Students will be able to give a short biography on European explorers, identify the route
the explorer took, and explain the impact the exploration have. In order to do this, they will incorporate
computational thinking by programming the dash to travel the route the explorer took on a poster. They
will program the dash to have a voice over explaining a short biography on the explorer, information
about the route and what happened on the journey, and where they explored. The students will record the
dash moving around the poster while it is speaking. At the end of the video, the students must explain
themselves the impact the exploration took. The students will present their videos in front of the class so
other students can learn from the group presentations.

Standards Learning Objective Assessment

5.1.2 Examine accounts of early
European explorations of North
America including major land
and water routes, reasons for
exploration and the impact the
exploration had
(The Viking explorations and settlements in
Greenland and North America; Spanish
expeditions by Christopher Columbus,
Hernn Corts, Hernando de Soto and
Francisco Vsquez de Coronado;
expeditions by French explorers Jacques
Cartier and Samuel de Champlain; and
expeditions for England and Holland by
explorers Henry Cabot, Henry Hudson and
John White)
Students are able to provide a brief Student received a
biography on the explorer as well as great or average on the
identifying the route the explorer took. understanding of
The students are able to include facts explorer/route and the
about their explorers journey and what first two checkpoints.
they discovered.
Students understand how to program Student receives a
the dash using the Go and Path app. great or average on the
This will include making the dash move programming part of
from place to place, creating voiceovers the rubric.
over the explorer, and other dash
movements. They will use the dash to
move throughout the route of the
explorer on their poster.

Students will be able to understand and Student received a

state the impact their explorers great or average on the
expedition has on the world. understanding of
explorer/route.
Students will write 8-10 facts in their
journal about each explorer when their
classmates are presenting. This will Student received a
help them learn about all explorers and great or average on the
not only the explorer they created their presentation
project over. participation.

Key Terms & Definitions:

Exploration- traveling through an unknown area so you can learn more about it (taken from
http://www.dictionary.com/browse/exploration)
Colonization- settling in an unknown and unowned land
 Dash- robots that will be used in this lesson that you can program to do and say what you want.
They will be used to travel around the countries.
Explorers: people that traveled to and from different places to learn about the areas
Spanish Expeditions
Christopher Columbus- first person to discover America (thought it was India) (1492)
Hernan Cortes- Spanish conquistador that overtook the Aztec Empire (1511)
Hernando de Soto- first European explorer to travel into the United States; discovered
Mississippi River (1539)
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado- explored New Mexico, Texas, Kansas, and Oklahoma;
discovered the Grand Canyon and several other landmarks (taken from here)
French Explorers
Jacques Cartier- founded St. Lawrence region, parts of Canada, and named Canada (taken
from here)
Samuel de Champlain- Colonized Quebec in Frances new colony, discovered the Great
Lakes, and mapped the Atlantic coast. (taken from here)
England and Holland
Henry Cabot- made a British claim to Canada in 1497 believing it was Asia. (Taken from
here)
Henry Hudson- navigated the Atlantic coast and settled along the Hudson River for
Dutch colonization (taken from here)
John White- sailed with 100 other colonists to settle Roanoke Island. After settling, he
went back to Europe. When he returned to Roanoke, everyone had disappeared. (Taken
from here)

Lesson Introduction (Hook, Grabber):

Before the lesson, the teacher will have a 10 minute quiet journal time to do the following prompt.

Students will be prompted to picture themselves in the 1400s as an explorer in Europe. The King recently
told you to go on an exploration to any place you would want as long as you discovered something new.
This could be a new spice, gold, cloth, food, way of travel, or any other new discovery that you want to
come up with. Students will write in their journal where they would go, what they want to find, and how
they would get there (keeping in mind, cars and planes do not exist). After the 10 minute work time, the
students will then explain to their tables where they chose and why. The class will then have sharing time
where students can explain their ideas to the class.

Ex: If I was an explorer in the 1400s, I would go to Brazil for new foods. Brazil is known for tropical
fruits and food. I would want to bring these back to Europe so other citizens can experience food outside
of what we usually eat in Europe. I would travel by boat and would take 50 people with me to help me on
my journey. Since the seas are hard to navigate, I would make sure I had a captain to help steer the ship.

Lesson Main:
Mini Unit: Using the Dash Robot- This lesson does not have to be on the same day of explorer project
and lessons.
To start off the intro, the teacher will show this video that shows what the Dash can do
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA9py48X6_o). Students will gather for a brief presentation and
demonstration on using the dash robot using the link below. Students will understand the general
functions of the Blockly app and programing the robot to follow a specific path. The teacher will provide
a group demonstration and will show instructional tutorials of the app from the website. Students will
have 30 minutes in class to play with the link below and the blockly app on the iPads so they start to get a
feel for the technology. The teacher will give a specific demonstration on how to insert their voice into
the robot since this is a key component of the overall project.
https://developers.google.com/blockly/

Explorer Lesson:
Mini Lesson: Students will use social studies time to discover the concept of an explorer and the role they
played in advancing the history of North America. Teacher led mini lesson will involve a brief
explanation and timeline of explorers in north america and how their routes expanded settlement in North
America. Mini Lesson will be based on the information from this video:
http://slideplayer.com/slide/9330105/

Main Lesson: Students will split into their guided reading groups and each group will read a section from
their text book and they youtube videos
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrUdmzqCBEbKLeWkooT1lMtcyWJ3WrtcS (if textbook not
sufficient, use http://www.enchantedlearning.com/history/us/enc/explorers.shtml to identify explorers and
online research to get specifics on explorers) on 2 explorers (assigned by the teacher) where they will
make their own specific timeline of that explorers journey and two fun facts for each explorer. They
will then share information on each explorer with the class. Students will have 20 minutes to gather
information and 3 minutes (each group) to share their findings with the class.

After the students finish presenting their findings, the teacher will explain the project. Here is the
description that will be handed out to the students.

Exploring the Explorers:

Understanding the development of the United States
In this project you will be studying one explorer, their journey, and how they impacted the development
and expansion of North America. You will complete this project in groups of 3 and it will be due next
Friday, November 17th, by the beginning of the school day.
Project Description:
Students will create a map of their explorers journey and discoveries. This will either be a world map,
map of North America, or a map of the United States. This map will be completed on a 6 by 6 piece of
paper provided to you by your teacher. The map will be labeled with important events and should have
the explorers path drawn on it. Using Blockly, you will use the dash to navigate throughout the map as if
the dash is the explorer itself. You must give a short biography, tell about their journey, and state the
impact the exploration had using the voiceover tool on the blockly. If you cannot fit the impact on the
voice over, you may say it after the dash gets done talking in the video. You will videotape your dash
moving and speaking and will present it to the class.

The teacher will show the class this video to help give them an example (project example). Once they are
finished asking questions, split the class into groups of 3. Write down all of the explorers names and
place them into a hat; have the groups choose an explorer out of the hat to do their project on.

Lesson Continuation and Work Times: Once groups are made, students will have 2 weeks to complete
their full project. Students will have work time during computer lab block, partial literacy block, and
social studies block. There will be checkpoint assignments due at the ending of the first week to assess the
students progress and understanding of the assignment.

First checkpoint assignment:

You will fill out page 5 of this PDF (http://www.thekustore.com/guides/5518DVD.pdf) to pre-write their
project. This assignment will be completed by each member of the group and turned in when completed
for an individual grade.

Second checkpoint assignment:

Your group will complete a detailed timeline of their explorers journey and life. Timeline should include
at least 10 important dates and locations as well as their significance to the history and development of the
United States. It should also contain 5+ important life dates (biographical) of the explorer. The completed
timeline should have no less than 15 points. This will be completed and turned in as a group.

Third Checkpoint Assignment:

Your group will turn in a drawn plan of their board on a sheet of blank paper before they can begin on
their board. This is not for a grade but will be shown to and approved by the teacher in exchange for the
students board and work materials.

Final Presentation:
By Friday November 17th, you will record a video of your map to present your project to the class using
your map and the Dash robot. The beginning of the video will be a brief biography of your explorer. You
will then program the robot to follow the journey of your explorer using the blockly app. The dash robot
will work as a timeline as well; you will program the bot to say the dates and locations of the explorer.
Students will then give a brief explanation of the impact the explorer reaching that point had on the
development or expansion of the Americas. Each explanation should last about 30 seconds and every
person in the group should have equal speaking time. Everyone is expected to prepare for this
presentation and with a planned script and their Dash robot should be able to drive the route on its own
with no extra intervention from group members.

Lesson Ending:
During video presentations, the entire class will be required to write down 8-10 facts that they learned
from each explorer. This will help students learn about other explorers and not just the one they presented
their project on.

Students will also complete a group evaluation for their own group including how well they worked
together, distribution of the work, any issue that arose in the project as well as anything that went well.
Students will also be asked to grade themselves on the rubric. This will not be part of the final grade but
the feedback provided will be taken into consideration when calculating individual grades.

Assessment Rubric:
Great Average Poor

Intro Journal Students listed where they
were, where and why they
would go, and how they
would get there. They
clearly understood the
prompt and wrote a detailed
response.
Students listed only 1 or Students did not list
2 parts of the prompt where they were, where
and wrote a short and why they would go,
response. and how they would get
there. Students did not
have a detailed
response.

Programming Students clearly show that
they know how to program.
They get their robot from
one part of the project to the
other seamlessly while
explaining their route using
the voiceover tool.
Students program the Students do not show
dash well with only a that they understand the
little bit of trouble. programming and the
dash does not
seamlessly go from one
spot to another. They
do not use the
voiceover tool to
explain the route.

Understanding of Students creates a detailed
explorer/route poster of their explorer and
creates a video explaining a
short biography on the
explorer, an overview of
their journey, and what
impact the expedition made
on the world.
Students shows the Students do not show
route of the explorer the route their explorer
and explains only 1-2 took on their map. The
parts of the project video does not provide
guidelines (biography a biography on the
on explorer, explorer, the route, or
explanation of route, the impact it has made.
and the impact the
expedition made).

Checkpoint Assignment is complete Assignment is complete Assignment is

Assignment 1 with full sentences and each with partial sentences incomplete
question has an explanation or limited explanations
of students response.

Checkpoint Timeline has 10 or more Timeline has 10 or Timeline has less than
Assignment 2 historical points and 5 or more historical points 10 historical points or
 more biographical points.
All points have an
explanation of the impact
and significance of the
event written in complete
sentences
and 5 or more less than 5 biographical
biographical points. points with limited or
Some points have an no explanations.
explanation of the Assignment is
impact or significance incomplete.
of the event. Points are
not described in
complete sentences.

Presentation Student completed 8-10
Participation facts about other explorers
and gave other groups
his/her undivided attention.
Student has listed 5+ Student did not take any
facts on other explorers notes on other
and only had minor presenters and was
issues listening to other disrespectful during
presenters. other presentations.

Resources / Artifacts:
http://mrnussbaum.com/explorers/routemaps/
http://exploration.marinersmuseum.org/explore/
http://www.thekustore.com/guides/5518DVD.pdf
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrUdmzqCBEbKLeWkooT1lMtcyWJ3WrtcS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjEGncridoQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueagn3XkrMk (Our example of the project).
This video is based on our original goal for the project, however, we altered the lesson
plan to better fit the standard and to make it more comprehensive. Therefore, the products
the students would be expected to create would have similar in information, but the
delivery would be in the style of dates and locations (instead of biographical). We feel
this will better emphasize the explorers routes and the impact of their exploration rather
than the biography of the explorer.

Differentiation:
1. Differentiation for ability levels
The groups of students will have mixed ability levels. The high ability students will be able to
help the low-ability students by leading the group and helping if the other students have questions
or are confused. This will also benefit the high ability students because they are not only learning
the knowledge, but explaining it to their other group members. This provides a new way of
learning and memorizing knowledge.
2. Differentiation for demographics
Students will be split into their reading groups and then be split into groups based on the teachers
preference for the project. If the student is of a certain race/ethnicity that does not respect a
certain explorer, groups can be arranged so each student feels comfortable. At the beginning of
the lesson, the teacher will ask the class if they know anything about the European explorers. This
 will help the teacher realize if there are students who feel opinionated or dislike the explorer due
to cultural history.
3. Differentiation for languages
ESL, EFL, ENL- If students have an aid to help with language, they will be put into a group with
other ESL students. If they do not, the teacher can provide a translation of the passage used in the
textbook for the student. The ESL student(s) will be placed with other high ability students that
can help them with the project. Groups will be made beforehand so they do not feel as if they are
excluded. The student can also use babelfish to help translate. If the student feels comfortable
speaking in the video, he or she can use any language they prefer as long as they complete the
project guidelines.
4. Differentiation for access & resources
This will be an in-class project, so students will not need access to technology outside of class. If
students are struggling using programming, they can be switched to a group that understands the
programming aspect of the project. The teacher will also work 1 on 1 with the student to teach
them the programming aspect of the project.

Anticipated Difficulties:

Since we are using technology for this lesson, technology could possibly be faulty and not work. iPads
will be charged beforehand so students can use these to videotape and program the robots. Also, we will
give a mini-lesson beforehand on how to program the robot so each student is familiar with how it works.
If a robot stops working or dies, groups can share robots after they complete their video. This project will
all be in-class work, so the teacher will be able to help students.